Jennifer Arnold

Jennifer has always enjoyed drawing or painting subjects that are of interest to her, in whatever medium feels right for the subject.  Since a young age she has favoured charcoal, pencil and oils.

 

She completed a Diploma course in art and design in 1985, where freedom of expression and the use of multi media was encouraged.  Here she felt released from a constraint to laboriously represent a subject and began using bright colours to paint abstract or figurative work with expressive colours which evoked a childhood spent in Africa. Since then she has developed a much looser style, using bright colours to describe a subject  without sticking too rigidly to reality.

 

Since attending art college she has been on several landscape painting courses in the UK and abroad.  During this time she took to using chalk and oil pastels as they travel well and make it possible to work quickly in the changing light.

 

Jennifer likes to work on site to catch the character of the landscape or townscape, but has on occasion used sketches done on site, supported by a photograph to do a sustained piece of work, usually in oil.  She still likes to use charcoal for depicting animals or the human form as she can work very quickly – especially necessary with animals!

 

She has painted for several years on a semi-professional basis, exhibiting regularly, particularly during the 1990’s, when she had solo exhibitions in various parts of London, which resulted in sales to collectors in the UK and Canada.

 

Jennifer has also been employed as a craftworker, making stained glass and doing craft activities with elderly and disabled people, and running art classes in a day centre.  More recently she has been employed by the NHS, initially as an activities co-ordinator and later as a health care assistant.